At First Sight
by animephoenix
Summary: It's lonely, when no one can see you. Fauna has only the animals to talk to because she's unseen. No one believes in a 'Spirit of the Animals', so it's on a whim that she decides to hang around a boy named Jamie, which inadvertently leads to her first glimpse of Jack Frost. Maybe Jack, someone who knows loneliness too, can end hers. JackXOC post-movie ((ON HOLD))


I don't remember much about who I was before I become what I am now. I awoke to the moon, and a painful memory. The moon told me who I was, and it seemed right. It's ridiculous, thinking a moon is actually a person, can actually talk. But it's true. Manny, or the Man in the Moon was the one who greeted me when I suddenly awoke.

I stared at the sky, speckled with stars, the bright glare from the moon making me squint. It seemed so much larger than usual, even if I couldn't entirely remember what 'usual' was. It spoke to me, a voice ringing in my head, soothing, but completely unidentifiable.

My name was Fauna.

Sitting up, I took in my surroundings, finally tearing my eyes away from the moon and stars. I was in a clearing, surrounded by a forest. Looking down, I saw I was clothed in some sort of animal skin. My hand went up to grab the tips of my hair, which reached my shoulders. Holding some strands between my fingers I inspected it. It was some sort of wheaty-brown-yellow, like the color of a deerskin. The tips were a darker brown. Blinking, I dropped my hand, returning my gaze to the forest. Where was I? Why was I here?

All I knew was my name.

That was about 250 years ago.

Today found me bounding through the jungles on the back of a beautiful tiger, a wide, sharp-toothed smile on my face.

Over those 250 years I discovered quite a few things. People couldn't really see me, a couple did, but it was rare. No one really believed in the spirit of the animals, so it was quite rare to actually see a believer. I could talk to the animals, control them, gain some of their qualities, they follow and worship me. I don't entirely understand why they do, or why I am who I am, but there isn't much I can do about it.  
There were others like me. I'd met the Tooth Fairy briefly, on accident, when I'd seen some of her baby tooth fairies and followed them straight back to the Tooth Kingdom.

I knew of Santa Claus, or North, and was certain that he knew of me. He was Santa after all.

The Easter bunny I haven't met, but have spoken with enough rabbits to know he existed. There were others, but I've never bothered to go out of my way to find them.

* * *

"Hey boy..." Fauna cooed, petting the head of a stray dog. The dog nuzzled her leg, looking at her.

"Hello mistress!" he barked, tongue lolling happily. Fauna cracked a smile at its silly expression. She nodded to him before continuing on.

Strolling through the streets of a nice little town, she peered into the windows of some of the shops. Pangs of emotions she couldn't identify hit her when she say all the happy people talking with one another. Turning away from the window with a frown on her face, she continued on, sidestepping a person who barely blinked, not even noticing her existence. She knew they would just walk through her, but she never like the feeling. It wasn't pleasant, dampened her mood all the time.

Shaking her fawn colored hair, she rubbed her hands together. It was quite cold out today, Jack Frost must be at work. Not that she'd ever met him, didn't even know what he looked like. Probably some old guy. Even though no one could see her, Fauna liked keeping up with some of the trends, some of the clothes she liked. At the moment she was wearing baggy brown pants that are ragged and cut off at the middle of her shins. She had torn them a while ago, climbing. Her shirt was an army fatigue tank-top, and over it was a sleeveless vest made from wolf fur. Her deer colored hair was shorter, just below her jaw, loose and shaggy, even though she had cut it, the tips somehow became darker once again. Fauna's eyes were amber, like the color of caramel but with a more lustrous and orange-yellow tint to them. It definitely wasn't natural, she had looked at enough of the normal people's eyes to know she was probably the only one with that color. Around her neck was a tribal looking necklace, one she had obtained sometime in the 1800's from Native Americans. Similar bracelets were around both her wrists. Some contained wood carvings, or animals teeth, others leather and skins. She loved the necklace though, and had thanked the Native American chief over and over for it. It is beaded around, with a carving of an intricate feather, besides the carving of the head of a bear. While walking or doing practically anything they would clink faintly together, reassuring her.

The Native American's had been the last major group of people to see her, and it had almost been two centuries since more than one person at a time had seen her. It was lonely.

But not entirely, she told herself, the animals were there. And they were.

But they weren't always enough. She wanted a human to talk to, to spend time with. All the animals were her friends, but they weren't like her. She wanted someone of the same species to be friends with. To even just be acknowledged by. The Tooth Fairy didn't count, she was a fairy-bird thing.

Fauna sighed, running a hand through her hair. This was another reason she wanted someone like her to talk to, she thought too much when she was alone like this.

Her bare feet padded against the cold cement, stinging slightly. It wasn't enough to make her put shoes on though, she loved the cold. Winter was her favorite season, it was beautiful, wondrous, and breath-taking. Few animals stayed out to see it in most parts of the globe, but it was gorgeous. Fauna smiled happily, this would be her 251st winter, and she loved it more every time.

"Wooo-hoo! Watch out Jamie!" a voice cried, laughing with childish joy. Fauna glanced over to see a group of kids sledding and playing in the snow, noses red and smiles on their faces. They all looked no older than 11 or 12.

The boy, Jamie, ducked from an oncoming snowball and laughed with mirth, firing back with his own ammunition. Fauna admired the brown-haired boy and his friends, feeling saddened once again that she was an outcast.

Before she knew exactly what she was doing, her bare feet were trudging off the sidewalk and into the biting snow. She smiled, liking the crunching slosh sound the snow made beneath her feet. Kneeling slightly once she was besides the group of kids, she scooped up some snow, tossing it up once in her hand before launching it at Jamie. He stumbling forward slightly with a shout of surprise when it exploded against the back of his head.

Fauna laughed. "Woo! Boom! Head-shot!" she snickered. Jamie looked around in confusion, wondering who threw the snow.  
"Jack?" he asked. The other kids paused.

"Jack Frost?! Is Jack here?" they all exclaimed, smiles widening. Fauna threw a couple more snow-balls at the kids, chuckling at their indignant faces.

"Jack? Who is this Jack? Not I!" she sang, hopping around in the snow with glee, clapping her hands together. Feathers exploded in the air, falling around the stunned kids.

"Too bad you can't see me..." she sighed, watching the astonished faces of the children as they waved their hands around at the feathers floating down in the air. She jumped upwards, landing quite a bit away on a tree branch.

"Jack Frost..." she murmured, laying on her stomach on the branch, cheek pressed to the chilled bark. "So they've seen him." Frost was lucky, people could see him, this whole group of kids.

For hours she watched the kids enjoy their snow day, staring wistfully at their laughing faces. She really wondered why she had to be like this. Tossing a final snowball, she smiled when it hit Jamie once again, the boy spinning around trying to see who threw it as they were leaving. Hopping off the branch, she soared through the air and landed in a crouch besides the kids, who took absolutely no notice of her. A frown tugged at her lips.

"So you guys have seen Frost?" she said out loud, following them as they trudged through the streets. "What's he like?" she got no response, as expected, but it felt nice, talking. "If you can see him that must mean you believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy and stuff, right?" she continued, watching the group break off until she was only following Jamie, and his little sister, Fauna assumed. "This is ridiculous. I'm talking to you even though I know you can't see me. I'm insane." she huffed, the air condensing into fog. "Why am I even following you? I feel like a stalker." Fauna followed them up to their door and walked right in behind them before the door was shut. "Now why did I do that? I really must be going insane. Or I'm terribly bored. Probably both."

A dog came racing around the corner, attacking Jamie and his sister with licks and happy barks. The deerhound froze when he saw her behind them, immediately racing past them and bowing in front of her. The children furrowed their brows at the dogs odd behavior.  
"There's no need to bow." Fauna said gently, a sheepish expression on her face. She hated when they did, it felt awkward. The deerhound lifted it's head.

"It's an honor to see you, Mistress!" he barked, eyes wide and sparkling. Jamie walked forward.

"What's up buddy?" he asked, still wondering what the dog was doing.

"No, it's nothing, I just felt like exploring today." she said, making a shooing motion with her hand. "Please, go back to what you were doing, I'm just...observing so to speak."

* * *

Later, Fauna followed Jamie up to his room and stood awkwardly in the corner as he got into bed.

"Ya know, I don't know why I'm even here, or why I'm still here, but something about you seems different. Special." she said, watching the boy. He still couldn't hear her, and she still felt like a fool. Looking over at some coloring things on a desk nearby, she suddenly got an idea.  
"Yes, this could work..." she hummed to herself, going over and picking up a crayon.

_Did you like the feathers today? - Spirit of the Animal_s

She nodded, smiling at her little note and promptly walked over and placed it on his face. The boy sat up so quickly in surprise she couldn't stop the laugh that left her throat.

"Oh jeez! That was priceless!" she snickered, putting a hand over her mouth in an attempted to stifle her chortles. Her laughter subsided when Jamie observed the note, beginning to read it. She took it as her time to leave. Opening his window, she jumped out immediately, wings sprouting from her back and opening to catch the wind.

Jamie's head jolted up as he heard the movement, staring outside his open windows in awe as a few stray feathers drifted onto the windowsill. He rushed to it, peering out into the night, catching a glimpse of a winged being in the light of the moon.

"Woah..." he breathed. "Spirit of the Animals..."

* * *

"Look!"

Jack Frost floated down, landing precariously on a telephone wire as he watched Jamie show off a piece of paper to his friends.

"Spirit of the Animals?"

"Who's that?"

Jack narrowed his eyes in thought, wondering what was going on.

"Hey guys!" he said, dropping down besides them with a grin on his face.

"Jack!" the children chorused, happy to see the Winter Spirit. "Look!" Jamie exclaimed, handing Jack the piece of paper. "It was so cool! It was just, bam! There on my face! And then the windows! And feathers! And someone was flying!" he said excitedly, looking up at Jack with wide eyes. "Is it another Guardian?"

Jack shook his head, looking at the paper in confusion. He'd never seen nor heard of a Spirit of the Animals, but wouldn't be surprised if their was one. "Nope, not a guardian, but we don't have to be guardians to be here." Jack said, speaking from experience.

"Oh, but that's so cool! I was wondering why my dog was acting weird! The Animal Spirit was there the whole time! I beat they can speak to animals as well as turn into them! Unless they already had wings..." Jamie trailed off, still ecstatic at the prospect of a new spirit.

"Huh, that's interesting..." Jack shrugged. "Anyway, you guys like your snow day yesterday? Betcha had a great time!"

The kids laughed and talked, telling Jack what the did and the games they'd played.

Unnoticed, Fauna lounged in a nearby tree, turning her head when she heard the voices. Stretching like a cat on the precariously thin branch, she peered over at the bubbly bunch of kids. It was like time froze when she saw the figure besides them.

Shockingly beautiful white hair, icy blue eyes. A gleaming, white-toothed smile and pale skin. His laughter rang out among the children's, causing her stomach to flutter.

He was like a perfect carving, the pure embodiment of cold and winter.

There was no doubt in Fauna's mind that he was Jack Frost. He held a wooden staff in one hand, shining with frost and ice. His blue sweatshirt had splashes of sparkling ice crystals all along the shoulders.

Definitely Jack Frost.

And she was completely taken by him.


End file.
